Malaysia: Illegal logging among the factors for worsening pollution of water sources - Water Supply Dept

Nor Fazlina Abdul Rahim New Straits Times 28 Nov 18;

KOTA BHARU: Source water pollution has worsened since 10 years ago, with illegal logging identified as one of the factors.

Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry’s Water Supply Department director-general Datuk Noor Azahari Zainal Abidin said checks at Sungai Bilut in Pahang revealed that its level of murkiness or lack of clarity had reached 1,000 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU).

He said apart from illegal logging, river pollution and destruction of water catchments had also contributed to the water pollution at its source.

“The source water pollution has reached an alarming rate recently. Previously, the water quality has shown a fair indication and water murkiness had never reached over 1,000 NTU (prior to the finding).

“However, the problem has become persistent and every time it reaches 1,000 NTU, water treatment plants would be forced to temporarily shut down the operations.

“This was due to the plants’ capacity of treating raw water supply with murkiness level of less than 1,000 NTU.

“When this happens, a treatment plant would take about four days before it could resume operation as (the operator) need time to have the water supply restored,” he told a Press conference after attending Malaysian Water Engineers Action Committee (MyWAC) conference and exhibition closing ceremony today.

He said apart from Pahang, the problem was also identified in other states including Johor and Sabah.

“As such, all relevant agencies must take actions including enforcing existing laws to address extreme water pollution, while ensuring that sewage waste is being treated and not released directly into the river,” he said.

Citing Kelantan, he said most of the residents there utilised groundwater that was not exposed to pollution.

“Generally, groundwater need not be treated. We only need to ensure that it is free from bacteria through removal of iron (from the water supply),” he added.